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If you have a link directory on a website, how do you stop link theft by sites that don't link back, or trick you into thinking they do ?
Whether link theft is anything to get concerned about depends on how many links your website has, the quality of those links (Google Page Rank) and how many of those links you lose. Search Engine Ranking is certainly something that's becoming more dependent upon the links to your website.
You might be forgiven for thinking that when a website no longer links back to you, that it was an accident your link was removed from the link directory. Of course accidents happen as I know from using some link manager software. Just one click in the wrong box and a website link disappears the next time you update your link directory. But the real link thieves are those people that use methods to rob you of a link.
Here's the Top 7 Ways Link Thieves work and how you can avoid being their next victim.
Visually inspect your link by visiting the website page your link has been placed on. In your web browser, view the source code of the page. In Internet Explorer go to View then Source and this will open up your default text editor.
Using the text editor search on the page for your website domain and ensure when you find it that the link is a standard text link of the form :
a href="http://www.yourdomain.com/" target="_blank">Link Title.
The target="_blank" just launches a new browser window when the link is clicked.
The link should have no JavaScript code like :
onclick="javascript:newWindow('[http://www.yourdomain.com]')">Link Title.
Links like this JavaScript one can be made to look visually identical when viewed in a web page browser, but to a search engine it's as if this link is not there. Whilst a visual inspection to catch this form of theft is always the best, you can catch some, but not all of these types of links by using reciprocal link manager checking software.
Once you've completed your link exchange and done the checks to ensure you're not being cheated you must then check your links at regular intervals. Once you have more than about 50 links you will soon find link checking becomes a time consuming process. It's far better to build your link directory using some form of link manager software that will automatically check your links at intervals you specify.
To help you in making the right choices about setting up a link directory read my article "
10 Mistakes to Avoid When Setting Up a Link Directory" which you can find at
http://www.webpageaddons.com/link-manager-mistakes.htm
Of course not all link theft is intentional, sometimes it's just the webmaster not knowing that the way he has set up his link directory will not provide search engine link benefit to anyone that links to them.
However some link theft is intentional, the webmaster knows exactly what they are doing and by following this advice you can avoid being their next victim.
Tony Simpson, has been into Web Site Design, Promotion and Optimization for 5 years. He provides advice, product reviews and products at Web Page Add Ons to Make Automation of Your Web Site Work for You.
Source: https://Top7Business.com/?expert=Tony_Simpson
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Article Submitted On: July 04, 2005
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